


ALMSIVI Intervention

by TonalModulator



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Autistic vestige, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Holding Hands, OCAngstAndFluffWeek2019, day 1: love confession, references to in-game songs, sometimes a family is 13 vestiges in a trenchcoat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-13 16:43:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20585708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonalModulator/pseuds/TonalModulator
Summary: Talvini and Milia like each other, but they won't do anything about it until Vivec intervenes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is my submission to [OC Angst and Fluff Week 2019](https://indoril-nerevar-mora.tumblr.com/post/187177772035/oc-angst-and-fluff-week-2019-welcome-to-oc-angst), day one: Hiding an injury and/or Love Confession.
> 
> The next chapter was originally my submission for the "hand holding" day, but I expanded it into a more complete chapter that hopefully wraps up the story of <s>how Vivec nudged them together</s> how they ended up together.

“She is pretty, isn’t she? Even this one can see that.”

“Hm?” Talvini snapped her focus back to Shasirba across the dinner table. She realized her eyes had followed Milia out of the room when the latter had picked up their dishes to bring them to the kitchen. She tried to cover her embarrassment with an amused smile and cocked her head. “Why do you say that?”

It wasn’t as though she had a crush. At least, no more than should be expected. Anyone would be taken in by that bright smile Milia had given her as she stood up, or the way she had playfully bopped her head as she left, or the way her dark pink hair always managed to look perfect, or the subtle sway in her walk, or the definition in her arms, emphasized by her Buoyant Armiger uniform…

“No reason at all,” Shasirba said with feigned innocence. “Your staring was perfectly subtle.”

Tal turned a deep red.

“Shas is only teasing,” the Khajiit reassured her. “Though your reaction is perhaps more telling than you realize, friend.”

“I…It’s not like…” Tal fumbled for words as she tried to brush off Shas’s accusations.

“But, then, so was hers,” Shas continued, ignoring Talvini’s consternation.

“What do you mean?” Tal asked, now having forgotten all about her denial.

“Oh, come. You did not see the way her eyes lit up when you returned her smile? Or her nervousness when she touched you? No, of course you didn’t. You are too distracted by your own crush to notice hers!”

“She doesn’t…_I_ don’t…” Tal found herself fumbling once again.

“Of course not,” Shas said, though the smile in her eyes said otherwise. She stood up and stretched. “Well, this one must be going now. Bright Moons guide you, friend.”

Talvini stayed at the empty table after Shasirba left. She realized she owed herself a bit of thinking. For one thing, this whole “anyone would fall to Milia’s charms” excuse was admittedly getting old. Of course it would seem that way to someone who had indeed fallen to her charm. That’s just how attraction works.

_Oh, gods…_ she groaned in her mind. She did have a crush. She sighed and put her head in her hands. _May Ayem have mercy, and Seht grant me a clear mind, and Vehk…stay out of this._

“Hey.”

Tal perked back up at the sound of Milia’s voice. “Hey,” she said, trying her best to look and sound as if she had not just been lamenting over the one who now sat across from her.

Milia looked concerned. “Everything all right?”

Tal nodded a little too fast and tried to smile through her nervousness. “Yeah, definitely. What’s up?”

Milia seemed to take a second to put her request together. “I was going to work on some writing in the next room, and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out in there with me? Vivec’s been on my case about how I’m not developing my ‘Poet’ side enough, and, well,” she put on a mock dramatic tone, “you always seem to inspire me.”

“Sure,” Tal said. It was hard for her to hide her smile or the way she blushed, but she really hoped that at least her pounding heart was only audible to herself.

* * *

At work the next day, Milia was posted to the main chamber of Vivec’s Palace. The Palace was quiet, reflecting an unusual lull in petitioners.

“Milia,” Vivec’s voice rang through the chamber, shimmering with both authority and something that sounded like mischief. “How is your assignment coming?”

Milia snapped back to attention upon being addressed by Vivec, having relaxed somewhat in the absence of petitioners.

“It is…coming, muthsera,” she said. “I spent some time writing last night.”

“You did? May I see?”

“Of course, muthsera,” Milia said, knowing better than to refuse a request from her god, no matter how much she dreaded it. Her hands shook as she retrieved her notebook from her pack. She took a breath to try to calm herself. A Buoyant Armiger does not tremble in the face of fear, even if the fear is of handing over a notebook of scribbled thoughts about her crush to her god.

She crossed the floor of the chamber, which seemed much bigger than usual, and offered the notebook to Vivec.

“I should warn you: it’s very messy. There’s not really any single work, it’s more of a bunch of thoughts—”

Vivec raised a finger to order her to silence, already poring over the pages, hir expression one of deep concentration.

Milia stood in agony as she watched the god process what she had written. She wasn’t even sure why she was so nervous. It wasn’t as though Vivec didn’t already know what she had written about. There was just something different about offering her soul to be bared and dissected while she watched helplessly. _Hm,_ she thought, _I should write that down._

“Perhaps you should,” Vivec replied to her thought without looking up. She would never get used to that.

After a century or so that had somehow been warped into a few seconds for those outside Milia’s mind, Vivec finally spoke again. “Coming, indeed. You’ve made significant progress in voicing the truth in your heart. Have you talked to Talvini about your feelings?”

Milia hadn’t mentioned Tal by name, but it was not exactly surprising to hear Vivec do so. What was surprising was the fact that her god and boss seemed to be about to offer relationship advice.

“No, muthsera. I wouldn’t want to make her uncomfortable, considering I don’t even know if she feels the same.”

“You don’t?” Vivec asked, a hint of amusement in hir eyes. Ze turned hir gaze back to the notebook and flipped through the pages. “You’ve noted her smile at your presence, the way she gets distracted and watches you when you’re not looking, the warmth she shows you more than others, the way she seems as eager to spend time with you as you do with her. You certainly do not lack evidence.”

“I…don’t think I said anything about her watching me…” Milia said, wondering _how_ she would have even known something like that in the first place.

“No? Hmm, then how could I have known that?” Vivec asked, the look of mischief now dominating hir face. “Even your Khajiiti friend has offered a prayer on your behalf, in the hopes that you two might come to recognize each other’s feelings. _And_ you have my blessing, yet still you doubt!”

Milia could feel herself blushing. She opened her mouth to make some attempt at an apology and an assurance of her trust, but Vivec laughed and raised a hand to stop her.

“Peace, Milia, I jest. I know you have faith,” ze said, hir expression now comforting, though still showing that ze was clearly enjoying hirself. “I have a new assignment for you. An optional assignment, though highly recommended, with no due date.”

Milia could tell where this was going, but she waited patiently anyway.

“Talk to Talvini. Share your feelings with her. You and I both know she won’t make the first move.”

“I will try,” Milia said. It was the best she could offer, and she knew that Vivec knew that.

Vivec nodded with satisfaction and handed Milia her notebook. “Now, back to your post, my Armiger. More petitioners will be arriving in moments.”

Milia did as commanded, and sure enough, the door opened and petitioners entered the chamber the second she resumed her guard.

* * *

“Hey Tal? Do you, uh, have a moment?”

Talvini looked up from her book at the mer sitting next to her. _Of course I have time for you,_ she wanted to say, _and if I didn’t, I would make the time._ But instead, she responded with a smile and said, “Sure, what’s up?”

_A Buoyant Armiger does not tremble in the face of fear,_ Milia reminded herself, _even if that fear is of telling your crush you have feelings for her._ She took a breath.

“I had an…interesting conversation with Lord Vivec today,” she said. “I, uh, well. You know how I’ve said that Vivec has been pushing me to develop my Poet side more, and how I like to have you around, because you help me write?”

Tal nodded.

_Gods, those eyes…_ Milia thought, but she pulled her focus back to what she wanted to say. “Right. Well, the main reason I like to sit with you while I write is because…I don’t know…no, I _do_ know, I just meant…” she trailed off in a nervous laugh. Another breath. She knew it was more important to get it right than to look elegant in the process.

“The reason is that I’m supposed to be practicing writing my feelings, and, in truth, you’re at the center of them. That’s to say I have, like, a huge crush on you. And Vivec wanted to read what I had written, and ze encouraged me to talk to you and gave us hir blessing.”

“Oh, well, um,” Talvini struggled to get words together, but she hoped the giant smile on her face would soothe Milia’s worries in the meantime. “You are also at the center of my feelings. Which is to say, I have a huge crush on you, too.”

Milia was now wearing a smile as wide as Tal’s. “That’s…wow. Great,” she laughed. She wasn’t quite sure what to do next, but she remembered Vivec’s acknowledgment that Talvini wasn’t going to act first, and assumed it applied here as well. She tentatively held out an arm, and Tal smiled and moved into her embrace.

“So, Vivec told you to talk to me, did ze?” Talvini asked with a tone of dry humor.

“Suggested, anyway,” Milia said. “Why?”

“Did ze mention that I _specifically_ prayed for hir to stay out of it?”

Milia laughed. “Ze did not mention that, no. But it’s just like hir, really.”

Tal made a “hmph” of mock disapproval, but it turned into a regular laugh. “I suppose ze knew better, after all.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talvini and Milia sit together, Talvini amends her prayer, Milia reports back to Vivec.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much shorter version of this was originally for OCAngstAndFluffWeek2019, but I decided to neaten it and expand it a bit.

"So, are you going to write about us?" Tal nudged Milia playfully as she spoke, and only after the words were out did she feel the profundity of the word "us."

Milia also seemed to notice, and her smile widened in response. "I figured so. I _am_ supposed to write about my feelings—or, 'the truth in my heart,' in the words of the actual Warrior-Poet—and there's not really much else that I'm even thinking about right now..." She paused and covered her face in embarrassment. "By the Three, that sounds so corny."

"No, it's cute!" Talvini protested.

Milia laughed warmly and ran her hand along Tal's arm, savoring their embrace. "I suppose I can forgive myself for a little corniness, given the circumstances. But, is that okay with you? Writing about us, I mean." She tried to make her face more serious in order to make it clear that it was a genuine question, but she once again found that she couldn't help but smile at "us."

"Of course," Tal said. "I wouldn't exactly expect to hide anything from Vivec, especially given your position. _Especially_ not when ze's apparently already invested."

Milia groaned and shook her head. "I can't believe it took a nudge from a god for us to get together." She casually traced up Tal's hand and along her fingers. "And that I _still_ tried to object."

"Oh no, how did ze respond to that?" Talvini recognized the invitation and laced their fingers together, letting Milia's hand rest on top of her own. She tried to stay focused on the conversation, while her mind buzzed about how such a tiny act of intimacy could fill her with so much emotion.

"I think ze understood that I was just nervous. But ze did still tease me for my doubt."

Tal took the opportunity to make a sympathetic gesture, contrived as it was. She brought Milia's hand over to her free hand and clasped it briefly, and then began tracing the shimmering blue patterns that Milia wore as a symbol of her position as a Buoyant Armiger, while their left hands stayed tightly entwined.

Neither of them spoke for a moment. They were too fixated on the new feelings of their hands together, fingers wrapped around each other, holding each other close, a simple abstraction of what was to come.

Eventually, Talvini looked back up at Milia with a small jolt. "Oh, sorry, was it my turn?" she asked, smiling with embarrassment.

"I kind of forgot we were talking, actually," Milia admitted with a light chuckle.

"Okay, good," Tal laughed. "Weren't you going to write? I'd hate for you to disappoint Lord Vivec because of me."

"Weren't you going to read?" Milia asked.

"I don't need hands to read," Tal said with a jokingly smug look as she levitated the book she was reading back up to eye-level. "I have special hand-holding powers."

"Oh, wow." Milia giggled and pressed her face into Tal's shoulder, overwhelmed by the mer's cuteness. She rolled her head to the side and looked up at Talvini. "I'm really liking this already."

Tal struggled to keep her composure. She desperately wanted to pull Milia's face up to hers and kiss her right then, but she was worried that that might be too much. She never knew how to judge these things, and preferred to let the other lead. Instead, she settled for letting her arm float around Milia's waist as she turned her focus to her book and, after a few tries, managed to get her mind back on reading.

Her gaze soon drifted up and away to some place far in the distance. It was no longer on Nirn, but deep in her mind, as she chased some train of ideas that had been sparked by what she read. Milia noticed Talvini's shift in attention and looked up from her notebook to see what had caught her eye. Suddenly, she, too, was off on a stream of thought, though her gaze stayed firmly in the present, locked onto the mer beside her. She studied the features of Tal's thinking face: the way her brow furrowed, the wrinkle in her nose, the curve of her mouth that was intermittently covered by her hand, which spent the rest of the time pointing at referents no one else could see.

Talvini jumped when she was brought back to the present by a kiss on her cheek.

The jump surprised Milia as well. "I'm sorry!" she said, smiling tentatively. "I didn't mean to startle you. You were all focused...you looked really cute. Was that okay?"

The surprise on Tal's face quickly melted into a smile as she came back to the present and watched her new girlfriend fumble. She wanted to tell Milia that it was very okay, even welcome, but her mind hadn't adjusted to mouth-words yet, and so she settled for a nod, still smiling.

"Are you sure?" Milia asked, her smile fading into concern.

Tal realized that Milia must have mistaken the nonverbal response for hesitation. She would have to explain sometime, but for now, she just wanted to clear up any worries.

One way jumped to mind that she was confident would make things abundantly clear. She reached her hand out, first gently brushing her knuckles along Milia's cheek, and then extending her fingers and letting her hand rest there. Then, with just a small nudge, she brought Milia's face to hers and kissed her on the lips.

"Oh, wow...definitely okay, then," Milia said quietly when the kiss ended. She sat for a second with a soft smile, her eyes floating back and forth between Tal's eyes and lips. Then she went back in for another kiss, this time longer and more confident, because it wasn't a message, but a kiss for the sake of kissing.

* * *

When Talvini reached the gratitude section of her evening prayers that night, she made a point of following up on the prayer she had made the previous day.

> "_De Ayem, sut amalatuhr daelji, os juohn jikig._ `[To Ayem, for your mercy, I give thanks.]`  
_De Seht, sut shoyul cishu, os juohn jikig._ `[To Seht, for a clear mind, I give thanks.]`  
_De Vehk, sut almes yi usehted, os juohn jikig._ `[To Vehk, for rejecting my prayer, I give thanks.]`"

* * *

"Milia!" Vivec's voice rang through the palace chamber again the next day. "Your energy today is a model of buoyancy. Do you have any news on your assignments?"

Milia was expecting the question this time, but Vivec certainly took hir time. It had been hard to ignore that discerning smirk her god had given her when she arrived that morning, but ze had waited until the end of her shift to say anything.

"I do, muthsera," she replied, despite knowing that Vivec already knew the answer. "I have completed your optional assignment."

"You did? Tell me, what was the result?" ze asked with clearly feigned ignorance.

"The result was just as you anticipated. I thank you for your intervention." She broke into an amused smile and added, "Tal appreciates your intervention as well, albeit reluctantly."

Vivec laughed warmly. "I am glad Talvini harbors no resentment." Ze shrugged playfully and added, "Some prayers are best not answered. Now, what news do you have of your other assignment?"

Milia retrieved her notebook and opened to a page with a block of writing under an assortment of less organized miscellany. The block was indicated by an arrow with the label "Before Kiss" that had apparently been added after the block was written. She offered the notebook to her god with more confidence this time, which is to say that she was not as _completely_ overcome with dread as she was yesterday. Still, she found herself attempting to offer explanations for a variety of things until a golden finger ordered her to silence. Vivec's eyes glowed with interest as ze read the writing.

> _Molag julbir yi edur; os enhi el alda'hirag._ `[Fire is my ally; I dance with it.]`  
_Gher foyer ouakag._ `[I swim in lava.]`  
_Devehr molkhun am Dagoth-Ur os molfredihn neripog._ `[I wear armor made from the blood of Red Mountain.]`
> 
> _Er periuhr ohm,_ `[But your smile,]`  
_khenur lo udibrohag._ `[the warmth consumes me.]`
> 
> _Malrusil markazuil ohm edur; ohn de el aynag._ `[Lightning is your tool; you call to it.]`  
_Malrouaa balmephig._ `[You weave storms.]`  
_Bahr sinkayl, er nei gher baldeful._ `[No surprise (lit. shock) there, except in your touch.]`
> 
> _Molag-molamer, malrusil-archag,_ `[Fire-warrior, lightning-mage,]`  
_bahr dagon, alnef humori._ `[not destruction, just together.]`

Ze looked up when ze was done reading, the discerning smirk now hinting alongside the interest in hir eyes. "If I may be so bold, is there an 'After Kiss?'"

The embarrassment was returning as Milia took the notebook and flipped to a page with just one short block of writing on it, which was indeed labeled "After Kiss." She handed the notebook back and started to ramble, "It's supposed to confirm the earlier part with the warmth and the smile—"

Vivec raised a finger _and_ an eyebrow this time to silence her.

> _Hij, un os hidyivin ohm shogahad,_ `[Now that I know your lips,]`  
_dahrmalayir ilm molag neihig._ `[I must re-assess the true meaning of 'fire.']`

When Vivec looked back at Milia, ze was wearing an expression that she couldn't quite discern. "Look at you, tackling challenges and conquering fears, one after another!"

Milia wanted to protest, to deny anything that could look like weakness and claim that it was no challenge at all, just her duty as a Buoyant Armiger, but she remembered the last few looks Vivec had given her for interrupting and decided it was best to let hir speak.

"Recognizing the truth in your heart and giving it form, sharing your progress with me, sharing your feelings with Talvini, and then going back and putting words to your Poet's truth again. You are making great strides, leaping at obstacles and besting them by the score! I am proud of you, Milia."

She was unprepared for the last part, and it hit her harder than seemed fair. Her vision blurred—suddenly, she was crying. Unable to push down her response to the unexpected validation, she watched the tears pour onto her boots, unsure where else to look but the floor.

In truth, she tried so hard in every moment to find the balance her patron embodied. Though she was raised with Redoran's close-quarters fighting style, which she valued due to the ability it granted her to stay alive, she was a magic user at heart, and she found as much value in old tomes as in the training yard. She was eventually dismissed out of hand by her compatriots for being too soft and bookish to ever be a "true warrior," no matter how many of them she could take down in a fight. She hadn't even bothered to try to find camaraderie with mages, knowing that she'd face the same dismissal, only this time for being too brutish. That is, until she met Talvini, at which point her worries had been amplified a hundredfold, as crushes tend to do.

Still, she met the challenge not by giving in to one side or the other, but by following the Warrior-Poet's example and trying to exemplify both. The most frustrating part was that people liked to measure her progress in one domain and scoff, not considering the whole picture. As a warrior _or_ a poet, she could only grow so much. But now, standing with her soul bared in the presence of her god, Vivec confirmed what she had barely dared to hope: that as a Warrior-Poet, she had grown _so_ much.

Vivec's feet came into view as they lowered to the ground. Hir hand gently lifted Milia's chin and brushed the tears from her cheeks. She met hir eyes; hir expression had softened, no longer pressing for juicy gossip, but being there to support someone who looked to hir for guidance. When ze spoke next, hir voice did not ring throughout the chamber as usual, but was soft and personal.

"Truly, I am. And there is no need to hide your emotions."

Milia smiled apologetically through the tears.

"And nothing to be ashamed of," ze added.

"Thank you, muthsera," Milia said finally, her voice barely audible.

Vivec smiled. "Now, take a bow and best a dozen more! But first, go see your girlfriend. You've been gone all day, and she misses you."


End file.
